Saturday, September 27, 2014

With the Dodgers' third straight win, coupled with the Giants' 4-1 loss to the Padres, the Dodgers clinched the NL West by even more than last game. In fact, one might call the team's six-run sixth inning the most clinchiness move of all, what with 11 batters coming to the plate and incredibly opportunistic baserunning by Scott Van Slyke (who took second on his RBI single on a throwing error, as well as came around to score a second run (on the same play) on a bloop Justin Turner infield single) and station-to-station, smart play by Juan Uribe and Darwin Barney. How much more clinchy this team can get in its last two regular-season games, I don't know.

(But I do think now would be a good time to rest more starters than Matt Kemp and A.J. Ellis, right? Think about it, Donnie.)

In other news, St. Louis needed a comeback, extra-inning victory to keep ahead of Pittsburgh in the NL Central. The disaster scenario we want to avoid is Pittsburgh and St. Louis finishing with identical records, as this would make the two teams square off in a one-game playoff before the loser meets Madison Bumgarner and the Giants (strategically, the Cards and Pirates might not throw their respective #1 starters, but who knows). A St. Louis win + Pittsburgh loss tomorrow would settle things (and, force the Giants to play at Pittsburgh, where the Pirates are 51-30; if St. Louis wins, San Francisco has the head-to-head advantage so the game would be at Phone Park).